GATEWAY BIOMEDS ‘SCOPE OUT’ ENGINEERS WEEK
The Gateway Biomed Society (GBS of Edwardsville,, Ill.) once again participated in National Engineers Week (Alexandria, Va.) activities, this year held in February at the St. Louis (Mo.) Science Center.

Gateway Biomedical’s Dave Thorpe, of St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, takes the blood pressure of a young visitor to the booth.

As in past years, the GBS provided a hands-on approach to learning about the clinical engineering and the biomedical equipment technician professions at its booth, with medical devices and test equipment loaned for the occasion by local hospitals and vendors.

GBS members demonstrated noninvasive blood pressure (NIBP) measurements and helped visitors to the booth use endoscopes to look inside a prize box and to get an insider’s view of a spaghetti squash.

GBS member Paul Sherman, a biomedical engineer at the VA Center for Engineering and Occupational Safety and Health (CEOSH of St. Louis), noted that the Gateway Biomedical Society booth has proven so popular that it now sets up at the entrance to the exhibit hall as an enticement to the visiting public. Volunteers from the GBS set up, tear down and attend the booth throughout the event weekend, he says.

Dave Thorpe (center) and Gateway Biomedical Society President Joe Hateli (right), SSM Healthcare, help future BMETs use an endoscope to explore the anatomy of a spaghetti squash.

Founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers and sponsored by more than 100 engineering, scientific and education societies and corporations, National Engineers Weeks is dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of engineers and to encouraging precollege interest in science, technology and engineering.

Gateway Biomedical Society was formed in 1990. Its membership consists of biomedical equipment technicians, clinical and radiological engineers, manufacturer sales and service representatives, and others in the medical instrumentation community in the St. Louis metro area.

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IT’S WESTWARD-HO! FOR DALE TECHNOLOGY
Dale Technology moved its headquarters and operations from Thornwood, N.Y., to Carson City, Nev., effective May 15, with the promise of new products and new Web site offerings.

The move comes about as a result of Fluke Corp.’s (Everett, Wash.) acquisition of Dale Technology in March 2002. (See Fluke buys DNI Nevada, Dale and Bio-Tek’s Biomed, April 2002 24x7 Browser.)

Michael Erwine, Dale Technology commercial manager, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations, noted that Dale is adding 15 new products to its value line of test instruments, including a radiology millimampere (mAs) second meter slated to debut this fall.

Dale Technology also plans a new Web site, one with e-commerce capabilities, Erwine said. That site was expected to be up and running mid-June.

The address of the site remains the same, www.daletech.com.

The company will continue its direction and focus on value offerings, Erwine said; however, a change is definitely in store for the now west-based Dale Technology. And that’s a change best described as — in the words of a song — “a new attitude.”

“If you look at the history of Dale, in a comparative sense, we have a lot more aggressive planning for the Dale Technology brand, so we are, in essence, trying to relaunch the brand,” Erwine remarked. “There will be a lot more activity, more new products. There will be a lot more proactive sales and marketing going on.”

The company’s product line historically has included testers designed to verify the performance and calibration of such medical devices as defibrillators, external pacemakers, infusion pumps, electrosurgical generators, rigid endoscopes and radiology equipment.

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DMS HEALTH BUYS TOPLINE’S ASSETS, OPERATIONS
DMS Health Group (Fargo, N.D.) last month acquired medical equipment reseller Topline Medical Inc. (Long Lake, Minn., and Fargo, N.D.).

DMS Health Group purchased the assets and operations of Topline Medical, a company that specializes in the resale of patient monitors, defibrillators, EKG machines and fetal monitors to healthcare facilities. A statement from the DMS Health Group said that the transaction involved the exchange of cash for assets but offered no other details.

DMS Health Group has 440 employees providing services to healthcare operations in 40 states. The Group operates through two primary business units: DMS Health Technologies, which sells and services diagnostic imaging equipment; and DMS Imaging, which provides mobile, portable, interim and fixed-site diagnostic imaging services to approximately 450 healthcare facilities in the Midwest and south-central United States.

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AFSMI MINUTEMAN, BOSTON ASP DISCUSS ‘SELF-SERVICE’
In an effort to continue the collaborative meetings designed to benefit members of both groups, the Association for Service Management International (AFSMI), Minuteman Chapter, and the Boston Chapter of the Association of Support Professionals (ASP) met in May on the topic, “Next-Generation Self-Service: Enabling the Customer Economy.”

Chris Selland, founder and president of Reservoir Partners (Cambridge, Mass.), spoke on the trends and technologies in self-service at the meeting hosted by Entgerasys Networks (Andover, Mass.). His presentation, prompted in response to customers’ growing requests to “help me help myself,” included findings from a recent study he and his colleagues conducted, among them: defining the term “self-service,” reviewing results of the survey, discussing the economics of self-service and examining technologies that enable self-service.

Attendees numbered about 25 and represented a cross-section of businesses and industries, such as Agilent Technologies (Palo Alto, Calif.), Bose Corp. (Framingham, Mass.), Pegasystems (Cambridge, Mass.), Putnam Investments (Boston), Stratus Technologies (Maynard, Mass.) and Bentley College (Waltham, Mass.).

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NETWORKING, WITH THE NEW ENGLAND VA NETWORK
The May meeting of the eight Veterans Administration (VA) New England Healthcare System VISN1 clinical engineers and one supervisory biomed covered the usual: Joint Commission, budgets, the definition of medical equipment for reasons of PMs.

(Front row, l-r) Kevin Jensen, Connecticut, and Northampton, Mass.; Lisa Bradley, Boston and Bedford, Mass., Carolyn Mahoney, Manchester, N.H., and White River Junction, Vt.; Margaret Byrne, Boston and Bedford. (Back row, l-r) Henry Stankiewicz Jr., New England Healthcare System; Gil Pina, Providence, R.I.; Michael Woessner, Boston and Bedford; Dolly Glynn, Boston and Bedford; and W. David Miller, Togus, Maine.

What might be considered unusual, however, is the fact that the men and women representing VAs throughout New England have managed to meet faithfully once a month for four years — a different VA location each time.

As meeting organizer Henry (Hank) Stankiewicz Jr. explained it: “We’re the most mature” of the VA networks.

VISN1 is made up of eight New England VA hospitals in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Each state has at least one campus; Massachusetts tops out at three.

Working in a network with the scope of the VA, the nine enjoy the kinds of advantages that come with size and numbers. At the same time, the personal and professional benefits that come from being small enough and close enough to meet face-to-face are obvious. Sharing information and resources while connecting with your neighbor is one of them. The realization that “all service is local” is another.

Knowing what kind of service is needed where or when, and learning how service works along those same parameters gets hashed out during those monthly discussions. Members also cover for one another during vacations or business trips. Job vacancy? They help each other find candidates.

Their tight-knit organization also has helped distinguish the New England network, enabling the VISN1 to lead the VA in improvements — in risk assessment and standardization programs, for example.

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SONORA APPOINTS BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Sonora Medical Systems (Longmont, Colo.) in June named Christopher M. Cone as senior director, business development. Cone had worked in a consulting role with Sonora for six months previous to his appointment.

In his new position, Cone has several charges: He will be responsible for expanding Sonora’s relationships with large multivendors in the imaging market, notably GE Medical Systems (GEMS of Waukesha, Wis.), Siemens Medical Solutions (Erlangen, Germany) and Philips Medical Systems International B.V. (Best, Netherlands); he will work to broaden the company’s presence among imaging centers and networks of hospitals, such as the Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals; and he will encourage the development of international business, “partnering” with companies abroad “to replicate the success we’ve had in the United States,” he said.

Additionally, Cone will guide the company’s foray into aftermarket services and training for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) service providers, hospital-based biomedical engineers and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service departments. Sonora already provides support for the full radio frequency (RF) of MRI scanners, including small signal synthesizers/receivers, preamplifiers, high-power RF amplifiers and RF coils.

Sonora announced its new MRI venture at the meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in November 2002. (See “Sonora Medical Moves into Aftermarket MRI Service,” January Browser, 24x7.)

Cone’s experience in that arena comes from his four years with Colorado MedTech (Boulder, Colo.), a subsystem OEM and repair business.

Previous to his work with Colorado MedTech, Cone was with Vicor Corp. (Andover, Mass.), a maker of component, configurable and custom power products for the medical and other industries.

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AXEDA RELEASES NEW REMOTE SERVICING FEATURES
Axeda Systems Inc. (Mansfield, Mass.) recently released a new version of its Axeda Service application that the company says extends the ability of service engineers to identify, diagnose and repair problems remotely.

New Axeda Service features include the ability to define and capture “snapshots” of device data on demand and a new scripting capability that allows devices to be instructed to perform operations remotely.

The snapshot component permits data to be captured and stored in standard XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format for viewing and analysis. The data is displayed in a “tree” structure with problem areas marked for quick identification.

The new scripting capability allows just about any device operation done locally to be done remotely; for example, running a device calibration session or automating a set of system administration steps.

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WHO EXPANDS ECRI’S COLLABORATING CENTER STATUS
In recognition of its efforts in the areas of quality of care and patient safety, ECRI (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) in late May was accorded “expanded status” as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center.

ECRI, a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)-WHO Collaborating Center for Healthcare Technology for 15 years, received additional recognition for its 1999 work in risk and quality management. As a result, ECRI now will serve as a PAHO-WHO Collaborating Center for Patient Safety, Risk Management and Healthcare Technology under new four-year terms.

Under the new terms of reference, ECRI will carry out activities related to improving quality of care and patient safety, as well as developing the evidence base in such areas as risk management and technology assessment. Other charges include evaluating the impact of technology management efforts on service quality, and developing tools and capacity building in health technology management.

“Our current initiatives with WHO include designing an international conference on proactively preventing error and mitigating risks in both developed and developing countries,” Jeffrey C. Lerner, Ph.D., ECRI president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “There is a great deal to be learned by sharing patient safety information across borders.”

ECRI is a nonprofit international health service research agency and an Evidence-based Practice Center as designated by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The results of its research are available through its publications, information systems, technical assistance, laboratory services, seminars and fellowships.

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AFSMI NAMES SUMMIT KEYNOTES, COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The Association for Services Management International (AFSMI of Ft. Myers, Fla.) announces keynote speakers and the selection of committee members for the organization’s annual S-Business Education Summit slated for Oct, 26-29, in Reno, Nev.

Xerox CEO Anne M. Mulcahy will kick off the keynote addresses on Monday, Oct. 27. Other scheduled keynote speakers are Bob Bragdon, publisher, CSO magazine; Gary Bridge, Ph.D., adjunct professor, Columbia University; and Ron Silliman, senior analyst, Gartner Group.

Members of the 2003 S-Business Education Summit committee, meanwhile, are chairperson Edina Soboleski, president, Interim Service Executives; Frank Atkinson, director, field operations, Unisys Corp.; and Nida Gabriel, technical support management instructor, San Jose State University.

Also: Paula A. McCarty, senior manager, service marketing, Motorola; Tom Neary, director, services technology, Aspect Communications; Randy Overturf, vice president, operations, Coinstar Inc.; and Roy J. Steele, vice president, Patton Consultants Inc.